Many electronic devices such as desktop computers or portable electronic devices including simple cellular telephones, smart telephones, wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs), and laptop computers with wireless 802.11 or Bluetooth capabilities, include personal information manager (PIM) software applications including, for example, task applications and calendar or date book applications for scheduling and reviewing PIM records such as appointments and meetings in a graphical user interface.
With many portable electronic devices, PIM records such as calendar records can be created and saved using the appropriate PIM application such as the calendar application in the case of calendar records, of the portable electronic device. Records can also be created and saved on another electronic device such as a desktop or laptop computer, using an application on the desktop computer. These records can be synchronized or transferred to the portable electronic device by wire or wireless connection. Thus, the records are stored at both the desktop computer, for example, and at the portable electronic device such that the records at the electronic device mirror those at the desktop computer. This permits convenient viewing of the records, such as the calendar records at either the device or the desktop computer.
In some cases, users choose to keep different records in different PIM service accounts depending on the nature of the event. For example a user may choose to store all business related calendar events using a calendar service from one PIM service account while all personal related calendar events are stored using a calendar service from another PIM service account, for example using an internet service.
Unfortunately, when calendar records are synchronized or transferred from more than one PIM service account to the portable electronic device, either the calendar records already at the portable electronic device are deleted or the new calendar records from a second PIM service account are merged with the calendar records from the first PIM service account already at the portable electronic device. In the example above of a user with separate business and personal calendars, the calendar records are displayed and are indistinguishable in a single calendar view on the portable electronic device. Later synchronization with the first PIM service account results in transfer of all personal calendar records originating from the second PIM service account to the first PIM service account, thereby merging both personal and business calendar records at both the portable electronic device and the first PIM service account.